Olly Chalk

“In Those Remote Stars”

(Resonant Postcards RP004)

Olly Chalk – piano, synths, Ruta Sipola – flute, Daniel Kemshell – guitars, Hugo Piper – bass, Corrie Dick – drums

“In Those Remote Stars” is the third album from pianist and composer Olly Chalk.  It follows his 2016 debut “Mouth” and 2019’s “Scathed Citizens”, the latter featuring a quartet including the US born. UK based saxophonist John O’Gallagher. The “Scathed Citizens” line-up also issued a digital only release featuring a live performance documented at London’s Vortex Jazz Club in 2021.

Originally from Suffolk Chalk studied at Trinity Laban and also at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Now based in South East London Chalk teaches jazz piano at Trinity and at the Centre for Young Musicians.

As a performer he co-leads the trio Dornbusch/Chalk/Glaser, a collaboration with the British drummer and percussionist Will Glaser and the Berlin based saxophonist Philip Dornbusch. He also works in a duo with Daniel Kemshell, the guitarist on this latest release.

His Tim Berne inspired quartet Houndsbleat features Glaser, Kemshell and saxophonist Tom Challenger.

As a sideman Chalk works regularly with trumpeter / composer / arranger Sam Eastmond and with composer Olivia Murphy.

At the 2024 Cheltenham Jazz Festival I saw him perform as part of a twelve piece ensemble featuring some of the UK’s finest improvisers as they performed selections from John Zorn’s “Bagatelles” series under the baton of Eastmond. This was a hugely exciting and enjoyable performance, with Chalk playing a substantial part in its success. Review as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/sunday-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival-05-05-2024

In 2025 he was back as part of an ensemble conducted by Murphy performing her large scale composition “Siren Cycles”, a song cycle featuring four female vocalists plus a thirteen piece instrumental ensemble that also included Kemshell. This ambitious work was a Festival Commission curated by Tony Dudley-Evans. Again review as part of overall Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/trumpets-tenors-and-voices-sunday-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival-04-05-2025

The lockdown period saw Chalk releasing a series of digital EPs and singles which are still available via his Bandcamp page. It was a period that saw him beginning to fall out of love with music making and he made a brief but not altogether successful foray into the world of stand up comedy before eventually returning to the musical fold and embracing a simpler, more melodic song writing approach which finds expression on “In Those Remote Stars”. However as his other projects, plus his work with Eastmond, suggest he is still no stranger to improvisation and the avant garde.

The new album takes its title from a literary source, a quotation from the novel “Herzog” by the American author Saul Bellow;
“In those remote stars matter is in the making which will create stranger beings yet”.

The programme consists of two ‘suites’ with five pieces under the collective title “In Those Remote Stars” and a further six representing “Stranger Beings Yet”.

The music was written with these specific musicians in mind and Chalk praises the input of his colleagues and the ways in which they have shaped and influenced the music.

The album appears on the Resonant Postcards imprint founded by vibraphonist Jonny Mansfield, a musician who has been a regular presence on the Jazzmann web pages over the course of the last few years. It’s taken a while for Chalk to get the music out there, the “Remote Stars” pieces were recorded in September 2022 and the “Stranger Beings” material in May 2023. Thanks to Jonny Mansfield for providing the necessary platform for the music.

As a composer Chalk’s sources of influence and inspiration are splendidly eclectic. Frank Zappa, Kate Bush and the jazz musicians Aaron Parks (piano) and David Binney (saxophone) are all suggested as influences in the album release.

As for the subject matter of the tunes themselves Chalk says;
“I began writing music influenced by imagined, ethereal worlds full of cowboys, insects, churches, forests, cliffs and sherpas. I wanted to express my love of improvised music in the purest way I could. Using pitch-focussed compositional processes to generate ideas I discovered that these self-imposed limitations allowed granular ideas to blossom into fully formed pieces. For me, this album represents a growth as a composer and a way of tying together the head and heart”.

He continues;
“I have always been drawn to moments of angularity and softness and for the first time I feel I’ve allowed these contrasting moods to exist simultaneously. Tonally there is melancholy in my work, but the experience of of falling out of – and back in – love with music has brought lightness and humour to this record”.

That eclecticism is encouraged by the unusual front line combination of piano, flute and guitar plus Chalk’s imaginative use of synthesiser. The presence of the idiosyncratic but highly skilled Corrie Dick behind the drum kit is also a huge factor, with his colourful and imaginative playing adding considerably to the success of the music.

The album commences with the “In Those Remote Stars” suite, five compositions recorded at London’s Porcupine Studios in September 2022.

The first of these is “Sanctity”, centred around Chalk’s simple piano motif and featuring Sipola’s airy flute melodies. The piece begins quietly but eventually gathers an increasingly powerful momentum. Central to its success is the remarkable performance of Dick who offers subtle and richly detailed percussive commentary in the tune’s early stages but whose playing becomes increasingly explosive as the track progresses, but without sacrificing any of that attention to detail. Dick’ percussion remains an integral component as the piece quietens down again, gradually becoming more wispy and ethereal following that dynamic central section. It’s a piece with a strong, easily traceable narrative arc that elicits a stand out performance from the drummer.

The title of “Howdy” appears to be in context with Chalk’s “cowboy” reference. Also released as a single it’s a more immediate piece than the opener with Kemshell’s soaring rock and blues influenced guitar coming to the fore at various moments throughout the composition. Elsewhere there are quieter episodes, moments of repose featuring the delicate interplay between Sipola’s flute and the leader’s piano. Chalk also features as a soloist, sharing the spotlight with the impressive Kemshell. After his sometimes intricate performance on the open track Dick reveals that he’s also prepared to keep thing simple as he deploys powerful rock based rhythms behind Kemshell’s wailing guitar soloing.

On the relatively brief “Zenjo” Chalk takes the standard chords of the sho,  a Japanese reed instrument, as the basis for a composition designed to “capture the stillness and peace of an imagined forest”. It’s the gentlest piece thus far, though far from bloodless, and is something of a feature for Sipola, whose flute conjures a suitably exotic feel. Piper is also featured on liquid electric bass while Dick delivers another finely nuanced performance behind the kit.

“Chrysalis” takes the music into electro-jazz territory with Chalk deploying synths in addition to piano on a powerful,  groove based composition that owes something to acts such as Go Go Penguin. Chalk’s mastery of the various keyboards is impressive and Dick delivers another dynamic drumming performance.

Title track “In Those Remote Stars” begins in a serene manner that has evoked favourable comparisons with fellow pianist and composer Bill Evans’ celebrated “Peace Piece”. The opening section features the classic sounds of piano, double bass and delicately brushed drums, but the music later takes on more of an anthemic quality with the introduction of rock rhythms, guitars, synths and Sipola’s spiralling flute solo.

The six pieces that comprise “Stranger Beings Yet” were recorded at Porcupine some six months later and feature the same line up.

This ‘suite’ commences with the lively “Critters”, inspired by animals at a therapy petting zoo “scuttling, tussling and romping”, qualities that are all present in a quirky, fast paced composition featuring buoyant rhythms and darting, quicksilver melody lines featuring synth, piano and flute. Kemshell enters to deliver an inventive guitar solo, weaving in and out of the contours of this busy and complex piece and later dovetailing effectively with Sipola’s flute. The energy and quirkiness of the piece sometimes reminds me of Django Bates and other ‘Loose Tubes on the loose’.

“Hush” is a slightly less frenetic exploration of similar territory, based around a nagging melodic phrase and Dick’s subtle, military style drumming. Chalk cuts loose with an idiosyncratic piano solo centred around stop / start rhythms that gradually acquires an impressive energy with Kemshell stepping into provide extra weight and colour. As the energy dissipates and the track comes full circle Chalk ends it all with a “ssshhh” that presumably helps to give the tune its title.

“Matter Is In The Making” is a short but exquisite solo piano performance lasting a little over a minute.

“Pathfinder” re-introduces the full ensemble with Sipola’s flute carrying the initial melody. Kemshell emerges as a soloist, weaving a concise melodic spell. He’s followed by a more expansive excursion from Chalk, whose playing becomes more percussive as the rhythms behind him, generated by electric bass and drums, become increasingly complex. Sipola rounds things off with a melodic flourish on flute.

“Stranger Beings Yet” is another brief but beautiful solo piano piece. These two piano miniatures have elicited comparisons with the works of Anton Webern and Guaraldi.

The album concludes with the optimistic “Daughters Of The Sun” featuring Sipola’s frothy flute melodies and soloing allied to the leader’s synth and piano. Chalk also features as a piano soloist, followed by the inventive and impressive Kemshell on guitar. Dick is a busy and colourful presence behind the kit, working in conjunction with Piper’s electric bass.

“In Those Remote Stars” represents an impressive offering from Chalk and his band mates. Informed by a rich variety of sources (jazz, prog rock, world music and more) the unusual group sound takes a little getting used to at first but quickly delivers its rewards. There’s nothing predictable about Chalk’s writing or the group’s playing and the music is all the better for that, fresh and exciting and with a new surprise around every turn. The unusual instrumental configuration makes for adventurous, uncliched music. With his eclectic range of influences, musical and otherwise, Chalk has developed a very distinctive world view, one which informs the spirit of this recording.

Anybody seeking straight-ahead swinging jazz will probably be disappointed but adventurous listeners of both jazz and rock should find plenty to enjoy here. This is music that both intrigues and delights,  it is adventurous without being confrontational and eclectic without being ‘arty’ or ‘difficult’. Chalk and his colleagues really do sound as if they were having fun while they were recording this very distinctive music.

Olly Chalk will launch this album with two live performances in February 2026;

Tues 10th Feb – Digbeth Jazz, Birmingham

Weds 11th Feb – Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London

Olly Chalk’s recordings are available via his Bandcamp page here;
https://ollychalk.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

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